SEEN: Dignitaries come out for the Colorado Latino Hall of Fame celebration
In what executive director Joelle Martinez said was going to be “a night of pure celebration,” the Latino Leadership Institute inducted five community leaders into the Colorado Latino Hall of Fame while awarding the 2017 Legacy honor to the late Dolores and Felipe Baca.
The Bacas grew up in Northern New Mexico and were the first to settle in a picturesque valley along southeastern Colorado’s Purgatoire River that was surrounded by the Sangre de Cristo mountains. They would name it Trinidad.
The living inductees were Florence Hernandez-Ramos (Arts, Entertainment, Media and Sports); former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (Public Service); Annette Quintana (Business, Innovation, Science and Technology); Debra Bueno (Unsung Hero); and Ron Montoya (Community Service and Philanthropy).
Hernandez-Ramos was the first Latina general manager of a public radio station (KUVO) and hosted its Cancion Mexicana, which soon became the No. 1 program in the Denver market on Sundaymornings.
Salazar, who has also served as a U.S. senator and Colorado attorney general, grew up in the San Luis Valley and says that he has “taken the valley with me everywhere I’ve been. I took the love of land, water, wildlife and the ethic of conservation that guided me growing up.”
Quintana liquidated her 401k in 1990 to launch, with her sister Victoria, Istonish, an IT staffing business that has since grown to serve clients in fields that include telecommunications, medicine, aerospace and government. The company has 150 employees in six states.
Bueno has spent three decades at the Northside Aztlan Community Center in Fort Collins, where she works with young people, families and the elderly to help them develop a sense of respect for their community and family, regardless of the obstacles they were encountering. Hundreds of her mentees are now leaders in their own communities. “My dad taught he the value of community family and giving,” Bueno said. “And once a kid walked through my door, they were one of mine.”
Montoya, a lifelong resident of Denver, wears a Don Quixote-inspired lapel pin to remind him that dreaming the impossible dream is a good thing. “You can accomplish anything you want with goals, hard work and a willingness to never give up.” Montoya spent the majority of his work life as an executive in the plastics industry and since 2000 has been the CEO and managing partner of Innov8 Solutions. He has served on 25 community and nonprofit boards, including the Mexican Cultural Center, Rose Community Foundation and Centro San Juan Diego, and led the state’s Minority Business Office for several years in the 1980s.
The Hall of Fame Gala also was the occasion for 2016 inductee Federico Peña to announce that the Latino Leadership Institute has established a scholarship named for Tim and Bernadette Marquez. It will be awarded to LLI fellows who “operate their companies with passion and perseverance while striving to give back to the Latino community.”
The LLI was founded in 2013, and will graduate 43 fellows this year. By 2020 it will have helped 250 alumni move to positions of influence in Colorado businesses and industries.
The Hall of Fame Gala was held in the Seawell Grand Ballroom and was chaired by philanthropists Rob and Lola Salazar and University of Denver Chancellor Rebecca Chopp. The emcees were former Colorado Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs and 9News meteorologist Belen De Leon, who will be leaving Colorado in January to join KNBC in Los Angeles.
Entertainment was by Mexican soprano Caren Rico and The Boundless.
Guests at the dinner event included U.S. Rep. Jared Polis; Rich Jennings, senior vice president for Comcast’s Mountain West Region; state Sen. Dominick Moreno; Alan Salazar, chief of staff for Denver Mayor Michael Hancock; Denver City Councilwoman Debbie Ortega; former Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia and his wife, Claire Garcia; Mile High United Way chief Christine Benero and Brad Busse; Moses and Gwen Brewer; the University of Denver’s vice chancellor for advancement, as well as Armin Afsahi, trustee Margot Gilbert Frank and Paul Chan, the vice chancellor for legal affairs; Dan Ritchie, a former University of Denver chancellor who went on to head the Denver Center for the Performing Arts before turn- ing the reins over to Janice Sinden; Denver Museum of Nature & Science president/CEO George Sparks; Jesse Ogas, executive director of Firefly Autism; and state Rep. Adrienne Benavidez.